Communist/Socialist Ideologies and Independence Movements in Africa

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International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 4, No.4, November 2019

COMMUNIST/SOCIALIST IDEOLOGIES AND INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS IN AFRICA

Richard Adewale Elewomawu

Department of History, Kogi State College of Education, Ankpa, Kogi State. Nigeria

ABSTRACT

It is almost impossible to separate communist/socialist ideologies from African independence movement. But Africa has been marginalised in the extant literature of communism and socialism. This accounts for the very limited study that has been done as regards the relationship between the liberation movement of African and communist/socialist ideologies. This paper did a thorough study of all the independence movements of Africa and realised that communism and socialism were unifying weapons of these liberation movements in their quest for the eradication of colonialism. Most of these African countries such as South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Madagascar etc had formidable Communist Parties, which took up arms to fight against the colonialists to gain independence. This paper has been able to bridge the research gap of the role of communist/socialist ideologies in the attainment of independence in most African countries.

KEYWORDS

Africa, Independence Movement, Communism, Socialism

1. INTRODUCTION

In the discussion of communist and socialist ideologies, Africa seems to be ostracized. The spread of these ideologies and the roles they played in the world are usually discussed with little or no reference to Africa. The literature on communism and socialism do not give preference to African continent. However, the role of communist and socialist dialogue in the liberation movement of African countries cannot be overemphasized. This study finds out that these ideologies served as unifying factors and motivators for some of the major independence movements on the continent. Some of these movements enjoyed grants and aids from the major communist/socialist countries to enhance their enlightenment and pursuit of liberation from colonialism.

This research covers the entire African continent. However, it did a thorough study on four countries where communism/socialism were most influential in their liberation movements. They are South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia. Other countries such as Kenya, Morocco, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Reunion and Madagascar where communism/socialism played minor roles were also studied. This study shared more light on the importance of communist/socialist ideology on the road to attaining independence by some African countries.

2. SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST IDEOLOGIES

Socialism and communism are two of the most ambiguous and controversial terms because of their usage and interpretations. The point of departure in the discussion of socialism and communism is “the communist manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1888). Although these ideologies existed before this piece was published in 1888, it provides the earliest major write-up in the interpretation of the ideologies. 11

International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 4, No.4, November 2019

Communism is a process which comprises of two stages. The first stage is regarded as socialism. Socialism is a political transition period where the proletariat overthrows the bourgeois in what Marx referred to as the “dictatorship of the proletariat” or the “bourgeois revolution” (Marx and Engels, 1888). This stage is the lower stage of the transition from the state to stateless society. At this stage, state controls all the modes of production and the proletariat or working class becomes the ruling class. This revolutionary transformation period ensures that all the instruments of production are centralised in the hands of the state while the rights and privileges of the bourgeois disappears. It is an imperfect period because inequality still exists. Each receives recording of his/her efforts. That is, each member of the society will receive needs according to the quality and quantity of work performed. Injustice and inequality are massively reduced compared to capitalism.

The last stage where there will be the attainment of a perfect classless society is communism proper. This is the stage of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Marx and Engels, 1888). At this stage, all forms of inequality disappears. Karl Marx calls this stage the "workers’ revolution". "A society without private property, class division, or an extensive division of labour” (Marx and Engels, 1888). That is, total abolition of private property.

3. SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST IDEOLOGY AND GLOBAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT

Communism as opined by Karl Marx has always presented a correlation between communism and national liberation. Lenin described imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. Marx who condemned capitalism observed that the slave trade, colonialism and the naked exploitation of Africa and Asia by the Western world were the foundations of capitalism. Marx asserted that “the discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalised the rosy dawn of the era capitalist production...the treasures captured outside of Europe by undisguised looting, enslavement and murder, floated back to the mother country and were there turned into capital” (Marx, 1867). By the end of the Second World War, “Marxism had… become the vehicle for radical nationalism in non-industrial societies” (White, 1983) like Africa.

The relationship between communism and national liberation was first expressed by Marx and Engels with their enthusiastic support for the national liberation movement of the Irish people against Great Britain. Marx encouraged the British people to support the demands of Irish people because the working class of Britain would “never accomplished anything” until Ireland gained independence. Marx’s anti-imperialist writings permitted India in the 1950s, which is believed to have inspired the 1857 Indian war of independence and the formation of the Indian National Congress. His writings also predicted the independence of China from imperialist Europe claiming that they would discover written bodily on the Great Wall of China, "Republic of China: liberty, equality, fraternity” (Palme Dutt). His prediction was manifested with the victory of the Chinese people’s revolution led by the Chinese Communist Party.

4. IMPORTANCE OF THE OCTOBER REVOLUTIONS TO LIBERATION MOVEMENT

One of the most significant events that happened in the twenty first century was the October revolution of 1917 in Russia where the ordinary people overthrew the aristocrats and established a government led by the working class people. It was significant in the sense that it offered a new path to governance by creating a people-centred government as opposed to a capital centred- 12

International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 4, No.4, November 2019 government. It also polarised the world into two blocs, that is, capitalist countries led by USA and communist countries led by Soviet Union culminating in the Cold War between 1950 and 1990. The event also led to USSR becoming the 'champion' of anti-imperialism especially in Africa. The communist bloc began to interpret oppressed people all over the world including African under colonialism as part of the working class that needs to be liberated.

Vladimir Lenin called for an alliance between the revolutionary movement of the working class in the advanced countries and the anti-colonial movements and oppressed people in the colonies, including Africa, to undermine and destroy the imperialist system of states, pointing out that this system could be breached at its weakest link'. To actualise this in due course, twenty one salient prerequisites were enacted for admission into the comintern. And one of such conditions are “that a communist party in a country possessing colonies, such as Britain, must demand an end to coloured rule, support every anti-colonial movements in words and deeds and cultivate a truly fraternal relationship between the workers and those in the colonies” (roape, 2017).

At the second comintern congress in 1920 at Baku (in present Azerbaijan) Lenin’s “Draft thesis on the National and Colonial Question” suggested that liberation movement should be provided with liberation movement should be provided with Aids and support. Therefore, for the first time, communists worldover began to see the ‘Negroe question’ and Anti-colonialist as struggles of the oppressed globally, and the need to organize them, and just as important as the struggles of the working class in few economically developed countries.

The fourth Communist International (comintern) congress in 1922 “described black as a nationality oppressed by worldwide imperialist structure and who must be liberated through the extension of communism into these territories/colonies”(Petersson, 2017) Black masses were seen to be experiencing alienation both as members of the dispossessed class and of an oppressed race. League Against Imperialism (LAI) and International of Seamen and Harbour Workers (ISHW) were set up by comintern. LAI was the comintern’s front organization and an important and major conduit pipe for the dissemination of leftwing ideas to colonial subjects of varied ideological leanings.

LAI connected the colonials with Marxist-Leninism & leftwing organisation in Europe & USSR. LAI also gave support to the West African Student Union (WASU) a mainly liberal body in conception, and was in close touch with the Negro Welfare Association (NWA) (Salvage, 2018). Through these overseas students, WASU served as a medium of transmitting communism to West Africa. Dubois and Padmore who had immeasurable influence on Pan-Africanism were card carrying members of Communist Party. Arthur Richards described WASU as "a communist medium for the contact of communists within West Africa when they came to the country (Nigeria)” (Adi, 1998). He suggested investigations of their activities.

5. SPREAD OF COMMUNIST/SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY INTO AFRICA

Communism/socialism was relatively new to Africa until the First World War. Communist/socialist ideology began to spread into and throughout Africa in the early 1920s. Equality, liberation and surplus that were the foundation of communism must have contributed a great deal to the plausible reception it received in Africa. By the early decades of the twentieth century, European countries had developed important infrastructure such as ports in the coastal areas, railways system and road networks, which assisted in the spread of ideas and communist literature. This was not the case in Africa. Africa was under the domination of European colonialists with a production focused on exploitative export. This made industrialization slow and ultimately the absence of a working class community to diffuse communist/socialist ideology. 13

International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 4, No.4, November 2019

However, due to white supremacist policies in Southern Africa and the mineral revolution, the oppressed Blacks and mines workers formed a team to create a fertile ground for the spread of communist ideology in South Africa. While the then British West Africa come in contact with communist/socialist ideologies through travels between Europe and West Africa. The nationalist leaders (particularly student leaders) usually travelled to Europe and the USA and came back to West Africa with communist literature. Communism penetrated into French West Africa largely through the trade union movement (Drew, 2014). Due to the oppression of Algerians by the French colonialists through land dispossession of Algerians and forced labour, a proletariat was inadvertently formed which accommodated communist ideas as their unifying weapon to fight against colonial domination.

6. WHY SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM BECAME APPEALING TO AFRICANS

Some of the reasons why communist/socialist ideologies became appealing to Africans include; poverty in Africa, which made aids/grants from USSR attractive (Johns, 2007). The nationalists needed finance to run their operations. They had to court the Soviet Union and China to get assistance to fight the colonialists. Secondly, the impression of Africans who visited USSR. Some African nationalists and Pan-Africanists such as W.E.B. Dubois, Padmore, Jomo Kenyatta, Wallace-Johnson, J.J. Gumede, Moses Kotane and other African students who studied in USSR came back with favourable narrations. They came back with tales of freedom, liberty and equality in USSR (McClellan, 1993). This made the ‘gospel’ propagated by the Soviet Union more attractive.

Another significant reason for the acceptance of communism by Africans was the quest for alternative political economic system. Many anti-colonial activities and Pan-Africanists recognised the need for the alternative to a capital-centred economy and a Eurocentric political system (roape.net). Lastly and most significantly, the disposition of USSR to colonialism. After the Russian revolution, the Soviet Union became the major champion of anti-colonialism. It sees colonised people all over the world as the ‘wretched of the earth’ that needs to be liberated from the shackles of imperialism. With its open antagonism to colonialism, Africans saw USSR as a trustworthy ally and decided to accept and follow the principles of communism/socialism advocated by USSR to fight colonialism.

7. SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST IDEOLOGY AND AFRICAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT

This research studied some African countries that were significantly influenced by this ideology towards gaining independence from Europeans colonists. They are South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia. Other countries such as Kenya, Morocco, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Reunion and Madagascar had less influence from communism.

8. SOUTH AFRICA

Communism filtered into South Africa through socialists white miners who came from Europe, Australia and North American who emigrated into Witwatersrand after the discovery of gold in 1886. Socialist/Communist ideologies gradually spread to other parts of South Africa culminating in the formation of the Social Democratic Federation in Cape Town in 1904. The spread of socialist/communist ideologies rapidly grew afterwards with the formation of more socialist/communist groups. After a protracted negotiation led by Communist International among the groups, the first Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) was formed on 30th July

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1921 with a membership of 175 (Drew, 2003). Intensive recruitment of members was launched and by 1930, the members had increased to 3,000 (Filatova, 2017).

At its inception, the CPSA were majorly blacks but the leadership was dominated by white. This, to some extent hindered its reception by the black community of South Africa. But the efforts (through writings and reports) of people like James La Guna. Sidney Bursting, Sam Bartin and David Iron Jones who advocated for and ensured a restructuring of CPSA helped to attract more blacks. The Comintern favoured and worked towards the Africanisation of CPSA through making blacks dominant in its leadership. This attracted more blacks to join the party. With the leadership issue resolved, CPSA joined forces with other radical groups to form a formidable liberation movement in South Africa. The leadership change made CPSA more appealing to the leaders of the national liberation movement in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC). This was significant because the ANC had earlier perceived CPSA as 'foreign' and a reflection of the status quo in South Africa. An alliance was then formed between CPSA and ANC.

And the militant activities of CPSA in 1930s and 1940s contributed to the introduction of the ‘Suppression of Communism Bill in 1950’ by the nationalist party government. The banning of the communion in South Africa was a ‘blessing in disguise’ as it solidified the relationship between ANC and CPSA. Joint Campaigns were organized such as ‘freedom of speech convention’ in March 1950, a successful strike on May 1st 1950, Defiance campaign of 1952 and the freedom charter campaign in 1954-1955 (Suttner, 2004).

In 1953, the Communist Party was reconstituted as the South African Communist Party (SACP) and operated underground. About fourteen members including Moses Kotane, J.B Marks and Betty du Toit were earlier trained in underground operation by the comintern in preparation for ‘illegality’. By the time the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, SACP already had about seven years experience of underground activities. This became handy to the ANC. With the outlaw of ANC, the distinction between the underground activities of ANC and SACP became blurred because the leading members of SACP underground also became the leaders of ANC underground activities.

Furthermore, the communists through its magazine, “The African communist” saw communism as a liberating system that will provide food, clothing and shelter for Africans. It believes “that the principal task of these (communist) parties in the present historical period is to take part in and strengthen the national united front, together with the peasants, the patriotic intellectuals and the democratic sections of the national bourgeoisie, in order to win and secure political independence, as well as institute a radical programme of land reform and economic development which will make independence a reality, and to carry through the African revolution.” (Brian Bunting).

The communists were pivotal in creating and executing the ANC underground “M-plan.” The ANC armed wing, Umkhonto we sizwe (also known as ‘MK’) was established on the foundation of SACP. This is evident in the Rivonia trial where all but one of the convicted comrades were official members of the communist party. In the late 1960, and 1970s, a number of communist- initiated propaganda units were established within the country, often through the recruitment of people who had been studying overseas. They issued propaganda that may have guided organizational activity or interpreted events. Most of those who participated in the joint ANC/SACP ‘Operation Vulu’ led by ANC president, Oliver Tambo were communists. The SACP underground leader, Moses Kotane was also the leader of ANC emergency committee (Suttner, 2004).

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Because of the long standing relationship between SACP and the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU), the communists in ANC were able to connect ANC with Soviet Union. A formal relation was established with the visit of ANC deputy president, Oliver Tambo to Moscow in 1963. The Soviet Union subsequently provided specialized training in guerrilla warfare in the USSR for members of the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. This was followed by the provision of arms and ammunitions to the liberation movement by the Soviet Union. In the later years, Soviet instructions were dispatched to Africa to provide military training to MK cadres in camps in Angola in particular (Onslow, S. & van Wyk, A. (eds), 2013; Suttner, 2004). For instance, the ANC and SACP received $300,000 and $56,000 respectively in money grants from USSR. While over 1500 ANC activists were trained in Soviet military institutions (Shubin, 2007).

The victory of the national liberation movement in South Africa with the assumption to power by ANC in 1992 was achieved with the blood, sweat, efforts, and education of socialist/ communist ideologies. It will not be an exaggeration to claim that the liberation of South Africa from apartheid and colonalisation was largely done with socialist/ communist ideology.

9. ALGERIA

By the end of the 19th century, socialist/ communist ideology had spread into Algeria from Europe, especially from France. This is not surprising because of the close proximity of France to Algeria. And France had already claimed dominion over Algeria with a lot of French inhabitants. The major proponent of communism, Karl Marx visited Algeria, though on health reasons,(Mezzadra, 2018) he and Engels had written on the conquest of Algeria by France stressing the horrors of the conquest and the economic impact of colonization.(Anderson, 2010) The socialists came together and formed the Algerian section of the French Socialist Party in 1906. By 1907, it established ‘Lutle Sociale,” a magazine usually published in French and Spanish in Oran. Members of this party organized and participated in strikes.

By 1920 when the Party Commiste Francaise (PCF) or French communist party was formed, all the Algerian groups with socialist/communist ideologies were affiliated to PCF. However, because the PCF was not programmatically pushing and campaigning for an independent Algeria, the indigenous communists in Algeria began to demand for autonomy from PCF which comintern granted in 1936. With ‘Lutte sociale’ and ‘Liberte’ Party Communiste Algerian (PCA) or Algerian communist party, attacked the colonial French government stressing discrimination against indigenes, “rural famine, and issues relevant to the Algerian population, such as the indigenat.” (Drew, 2003).

The growing influence saw four Algerian communists elected into the French National Assembly. And as observed by Central Intelligence Agent (CIA) report of 1951, “the native union movement had fallen into communists hands.” (CIA, 1951) By 1951, PCA had an estimated membership of about 15,000. (CIA, 1951) The most powerful potential force controlled by the PCA is the network of labour unions affiliated with the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) of France. The communists have almost full control over the Algiers dockers and dominant influences over many other unions (Drew, 2018). The influence of the communists also extended to skilled workers because “communists sabotaged orders that would probably be followed by the communist skilled workers in the naval base of Mersel-Kebir, and at similar installations” (CIA, 1951).

One of the frontline communists to agitate for liberation was Pieire Bibralet in the mid-1920s. He called for an Algeria “that is independent of all European tutelage.” (Drew, 2003) Although, it was not uniformed, the party resolved at its conference of 1926 to improve alliance between the 16

International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 4, No.4, November 2019 working class and the national liberation movement, and to promote the slogan of independence. The demand continued and became more belligerent. After the second world war, which involved some Algerians, the returning veterans joined the liberation movement and PCA. Due to the rigidity of France to self rule reforms, Algerian formed the Front de Liberation movement Nationale (FLN) on 1st November, 1954 (Drew, 2014). They carried out coordinated sabotage attacks all over the country. This soon led to a guerrilla war led by the FLN’s Armee de Liberation nationale (ALN). PCA gave full clandestine support to the FLN. And in June 1955, the PCA established its own military wing, the Combatants de la Liberation (liberation soldiers), which later merged into the ALN (Drew, 2014).

Although, the French government outlawed PCA on 12th September 1955, the members continued to operate underground and overseas. The PCA communist ideology and programmes undoubtedly influenced the FLN’s independence programmes adopted at Tripoli in May-June 1962. “This advocated a popular democratic revolution based on the leadership of the rural masses supported by the urban poor and middle class and reflecting socialist and collectivist values. FLN began to see the peasantry as the leading force of what was first and foremost an agrarian reform, agricultural modernisation, and the restoration and conservation of natural resources” (Drew, 2003). This collaboration continued until after independence when the Algerian government of FLN banned PCA in Nov 1962

10. NIGERIA

Although, there was never a communist party in Nigeria, but communist and Marxist ideologies were quite influential in the liberation movement of Nigeria through European contacts with Nigerian intellectuals such as Ladipo Solanke, Aminu Kano, Ladoke Akintola etc who went to study in the United Kingdom. They formed West African Student Union (WASU), which established contacts with Profinterm’s International Trade Committee of Negro Workers (ITUC- NW) and the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). The returning students came back with communist inclination, pamphlets, books and posters to indoctrinate the locals.

These communist ideas spread to all parts of Nigeria especially among the trade unionists. Mukogwu Okoye claimed that “in November 1950, out of a total of seventy sack of second-class mail, six were taken at random and examined; In each sack examined, there were 1,000 communist pamphlets, and it was estimated that 50, 000 pamphlets must have entered Nigeria by one mail boat alone” (Elewomawu, 2017). Communism made more influence in Nigeria among a group called “Zikist Movement”. This organization consisted of young and energetic nationalists who became more belligerent towards the colonialists. It was formed in 1945 with nationwide membership of journalists, students, lawyers, trade unionists etc. This group, which was the most dreaded by the British frustrated the imperialists through their ‘positive action’ programmes such as strikes, civil disobedience, violent demonstrations, and even arm struggle against the British. The colonialists described them as having a philosophy that is “largely nationalistic with a strong admixture of communist party terminologies, the adoption of Marxist philosophy and a complete opposition to colonial government in any of its forms” (Elewomawu, 2017).

For instance, Nduka Eze who was the general secretary of the zikist movement and the leader of the Nigerian Labour Congress had the publication, ‘the labour champion’ with a slogan, “Towards the creation of the socialist republic” (Okoye, 1962). The group’s positive action programmes led to its ban in 1950 but its activities helped quicken the independence of Nigeria from British domination.

International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 4, No.4, November 2019

11. TUNISIA

The close proximity of Tunisia to Europe also led to its contact with communism. The European who traveled to Tunisia propagated the ideas among the people. As the strength of communists grew in Tunisia, the Tunisian Communist Party (Parti Communiste Tunisien or PCT) was formed in 1934 under the tutelage of the French Communist Party before becoming an independent organization affiliated to comintern. The influence of the PCT grew rapidly as observed by the CIA “the Tunisian Communist Party is militant, alert, and ingenious, it is capable of carrying out limited strikes and causing turmoil among agricultural as well as urban workers who receive inadequate pay” (CIA, 1951).

Before it was banned, the communists used their paper ‘L’Avenir dela Tunisie’ to spread communist propaganda and anti-colonialist ideas among the skilled workers. The PCT was basically the spokesmen for Tunisian liberation movement. Since the nationalist party (Neo- Destour party) was submissive to the French colonialists. The communist were more aggressive and were practically in control of the trade unions. The PCT controlled syndicates of workers of Tunisia (USTT), organized violence strikes and occasionally joined forces with the General Unions of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) to paralyze the government of the colonialists. The party was significantly instrumental to the liberation of Tunisia from France. The party still exists in Tunisia but has metamorphosed into a new name ‘Ettajdid Movement’.

12. OTHER COUNTRIES

Aside South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia where communism was prominently influential in the liberation of those countries, in other parts of Africa communism was not as influential. For instance, in Morocco, although there was a formal Communist Party as at 1943 with informal membership of about 20,000 restricted to the urban intelligentsia (CIA, 1951). Through the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) under the control of the communists, strikes and civil disobedience were organized. But because of the hostility of the Royal house and a general clamp down on communist activities by the French colonialists such as banning of ‘L’ Espoir’ and ‘Le Petit Marocain' magazines which were communist inclined, the communists in Morocco were not organized and formidable enough to make significant impact in the liberation movement In other West African countries, socialist/communist ideologies were only able to make moderate influence on the liberation movement. Kwame Nkrumah, the foremost Ghanian nationalist tried to spread communist ideas in Ghana with little or no success. He called for the unification of West African to become “Soviet Socialist Republic of West Africa”. He was a prominent member of WASU and was trained by the CPGB in the revolutionary techniques. But at the end of the day, he could not succeed because he was more interested in his own personal political gains. In Sierra Leone, communist ideas were propagated by I.T.A Wallace-Johnson who was a prominent labour leader. Johnson who was prominent in WASU also founded the communist inclined organization, West African Youth League (WAYL) in 1935. WAYL published communist oriented newspapers which called for self determination in Sierra Leone. Communist/Socialist ideology could not make enough in-roads into Sierra Leone because of its limited contacts with Europe.

Furthermore, communism was not particularly pervasive in Eastern part of Africa but its presence was also felt by the colonialists. In Madagascar and Reunion, communist ideas played a relatively plausible impact in the independence movements of these African Islands. The influence of the communists in this Islands, just like most other African states were visible in the labour movements. In Madagascar, communist ideas infiltrated into her since the 1920s through contact with French officials in the country. The most popular labour union, General Confederation of 18

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Labour (CGT) was dominated by the communists in the two countries with WFTU claiming that there have a combined membership of up to 17,000 (CIA, 1951). While it was difficult for communists in Madagascar to gain political power, in Reunion two of the three elected Representatives into the French national assembly were communists. And communist held two thirds majority of the Reunion general council (CIA, 1951).

However, the communist in Madagascar became more bellicose by organizing a national rebellion in 1947 to gain independence. Although the French quashed the rebellion, this was a significant liberation message to the French colonialists. The communist nationalists where not demoralised by this because they reorganized themselves with anti-colonialist publication, which had to change names at various times due to the repressive French. The names used were “Tenimiera’, ‘Tari-Dalana’, ‘Fraternite’, ‘Itinimiera’ and ‘Antemaviera’, which became the most widely read Malagasy paper with over 10,000 readers (CIA, 1951).

In Kenya, socialist/communist ideas were advanced by three prominent personalities who were also the leaders of the nationalist movement, Jomo Kenyatta, Peter Koinange and Makhan Singh. Kenyatta who became the first president of Kenya was educated in Moscow and was the leader of the Kenya African Union, which was the foremost national liberation movement of Kenya with Koinange as his accolade. While Singh was more prominent among the labour unions. He was the leader of the East African Indian congress. Together, their efforts helped to mount pressure on the British colonialists to end suppression in Kenya. Communist influence became even more dominant after independence when Jomo Kenyatta declared Kenya a socialist state.

13. CONCLUSION

From the available evidence, it is undeniable that socialist/communist ideas played prominent roles in the independence movements of Africa. Of specific mentions is the case of South Africa, Algeria and even Madagascar where the communists took up arms to overthrow the colonialists or apartheid (in the case of South Africa) governments. Although their efforts did not yield immediate results because of the superior weapons or organization of the oppressors, but they led to significant changes in the policies of the governments.

In countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Tunisia, Madagascar etc, through the challenges posed by the communists through their publications, trade union weapons (like strikes, protest etc), the independence of the various countries were fast-tracked by the colonialists. Although communists/socialist ideology may not have been dominant in other African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Congo, Egrutional Guinean, Togo, Cameroon, Samaria, Sudan, Mozambique, etc, nonetheless, they made appreciable degrees of influence especially through publications and trade union activities. It is obvious that it was not that African liberation movements really religiously believed in the principle of communism or socialism. This is because most of these countries continued with the principles of capitalism after liberation. Communism/Socialism was basically the only ally that African independence movements had against imperialism.

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